Portable refrigerator.



No. 687,7|8 Patenked Dec. 3, I901. w. E. BOWEN.

(No Model.)

- use the same.

Trice.

PATENT WILMER E. BOWEN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

PORTABLE REFRIG ERATO R.

ESPEGIFIOATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 687,718, datedDecember 3, 1901. Application filed March 26, 1897. Serial No- 629,435.(No model.)

To a/ZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILMER E. BOWEN, a citizen of the United States,residing at New York city,in the county of New York and State of NewYork, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in PortableRefrigerators; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make andThisinvention relates to portable refrigerators; and its object is todevise a portable refrigerator-box adapted for keeping milk at a uniformtemperature from the time it is bottled at the dairy till it is disposedof by the consumer.

A further object is to oombine,in a portable refrigerator-box, acompartment for the milkreceptacle, a compartment for butter, and acompartment for ice. The advantages of keeping milk at a uniformtemperature are well known, and the desirability of a familyrefrigerator-box which shall be adapted to preserve the milk in a sweetand wholesome condition and also receive and keep firm and sweet andfree from contamination by other articles of food or other substances am0derate quantity of butter must be appreciated, especially by thosewhose necessities require them to purchase butter in small quantities.Butter is often dealt in by milk dealers and is carried by themilk-deliverywagons. scheme which contemplates the delivery of milk fromthe dairy direct to the consumer in bottles inclosed in small portablerefrigerator boxes could be combined advantageously both to dealer andconsumer with the mode herein suggested of delivering butter.

The refrigerator-boxes will be supplied with butter are placed thereinat the dairy, and the quantity of ice will be sufficient to last atleast twenty-four hours or until the boxes are taken up by the driverwhen leaving a fresh supply of milk each day. By this plan neither themilk nor butter will be handled or disturbed in any way by the driverdelivering the same, as all the packing is done at the dairy. Thusperfect cleanliness is assured, which with respect to the articles offood in question is very important to health.

My invention will now be described, and the features of novelty forwhich protection by Letters Patent is desired will be pointed out in theclaims at the end hereof.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, and inwhich like parts are indicated by like letters and figures of referencein both views, Figure 1 is a perspective sectional view of arefrigerator-box embodying my improvements; and Fig. 2 is a view inperspective of the ice-tray and its depending apron or drip-receiver,the latter in this instancebeing shown corrugated, but the same may havea smooth surface.

Referring to the drawings, 3 indicates the ends of the box, 4 one of itssides, (the other side not being shown,) and 5 the bottom of the box.The box, which-will be made of any suitable material, is divided intothree compartments an ice-compartment 6, milk-receptacle compartment 7,and butter compartment 8, as shown. The milk-receptacle compartment 7 isplaced at one side of the box and is as deep as the box is high-that is,sufficiently deep to receive in an upright position the milk-bottle B.The bottle ordinarily used will have the capacity of a quart; but largeror smaller bottles may be employed and the dimensions of the box made toconform thereto. The ice-compartment 6 occupies the upper part of theinclosure to one side of the milk-receptacle compartment, and beneaththe ice-compartment is arranged the butter-compartment 8. This is onedesirable disposition of the three compartments when arranged within asingle inclosure.

When the dimensions of the box have been selected and the sides, ends,and bottom of the box put together, I furnish the box with a lining ofzinc or other suitable material, (indicated by 9.) This lining isstamped up so as to make a perfectly water-tight vessel withwaste-outlet 00 at bottom and is divided to make two chambers ofdimensions sufficient for each one to occupy about one-half of theinterior of the box, as shown, the side a of said lining serving'as thedivision-wall between the milk-receptacle chamber and the othercompartments of the box. Interiorly the lining 9 and part a are providedwith ledges b b, which support the ice-tray 10, shown removed from thebox in Fig. 2, and

ing below the ice-tray,

ledges c c, which support the butter-shelf 11. That end of the boxadjacent to butter and ice compartments is provided with an openwhich isclosed by a door 12, through which door access is had to thebutter-compartment, the lining 9 being cut out to make an openingtherein corresponding with the opening which door 12 closes. The innersurface of door 12 is also lined with metal in the usual manner. Accessis had to the ice-compartment 8 through door 13 a'nd access to themilk-receptacle compartment 7 through door 14. The several compartmentsare thus provided with independent doors, which construction avoids thenecessity of exposing to the atmosphere any compartment unnecessarily.

The stationary piece 15 between the two doors 13 and 14 is provided forreceiving the handle 16, by which the box is carried. The piece 15 issecured to the edge of the sides of the box by screws 8, so as to beeasily removed when necessity may exist for taking out lining 9. Thehandle 16 may be of any description suitable for the purpose. Themilk-receptacle compartment is also provided with a lining having threesides and a bottom and is removably secured in the box without tacks orother fastening means, the same as lining 9. The division-wall a oflining 9 is perforated at its top, as at d, above the iceline to permitthe cold air to circulate between compartments 6 and 7.

The ice-tray 10, the shape of which is seen in Fig. 2, is preferablyformed of a single piece of metal of the required stiffness. Its frontedge e is adapted to rest on ledge Z7 of lining 9, and from its edge ethe tray slopes downward toward the division a of said lining and restsat its lower edge on the ledge b. The lower edge of the tray 10 is cutout, as seen at f, Fig. 2, leaving two projecting pieces 9 forsupporting the tray on the ledge From the edge of the cut-away portion fof the tray 10 I propose to suspend an apron 17 to receive the drippingsfrom the ice. This apron 17 may be made integral with the tray 10, asshown in Fig. 2, or may consist of a separate piece of material, and itssurface may be plain or it may be corrugated transversely. Thebutter-shelf 1.1 is cut away at its rear to permit the apron to passbelow said shelf, as seen in Fig. 1. The apron extends to within a fewinches of the bottom of the box.

The joints of the several doors may be packed as doors of ice-chambersare often packed to prevent the entrance of external air. Thebutter-shelf 11 is sufficiently elevated above the bottom of the box toavoid all liability of the water, that accumulates in the box from themelting ice, affecting the butter. The metallic bottom of theicechamber, with the ice resting thereon,will become and remain as coldon its under surface as on its upper surface, and cold air will bedistributed therefrom directly into the butter-chamber 8. As thedripping from the ice is received upon the depending apron 17 the samepasses slowly down toward the bottom of the box, the descent beinggreatly retarded when the apron is corrugated,as shown, and the cold ofthe dripping and moisture will thus be extracted instead of beingconveyed away with the water as a vehicle.

By the above-described construction the ice-compartment is at the top ofthe box, which is the most desirable position for it, and thebutter-chamber is adapted to be cooled to a lower temperature than isthe milk-receptacle chamber, which isalso desirable, though thetemperature of the milk-receptacle chamber will be such as to keep themilk cool without any liability of its freezing.

The refrigerator-box is easily cleaned, as the linings are removable, asare also the icetray and butter-shelf. The box is well adapted topreserve in a convenient, cleanly, and economical manner the usual milkand butter supply of a family, and the expense of making the box is soslight that a dairy company could readily afford to make use of it, andthus give its patrons much superior service to any now afforded by thepresent modes of milk and butter deliveries.

The butter-compartment may, it is obvious, be used for cooling variousarticles of food, and the milk-chamber may be employed to cool otherbottled substances than milk.- The refrigerator-box may be used inrestaurants, eating-houses, and the like for milk or other articles offood.

For small dairies and grocery stores I pro-' pose to make thisrefrigerator-box suificiently large to enable the milk-receptaclecompartment 7 to receive a large can of milk, holding, say, from five toten gallons, and the butter-compartment to contain a keg of but ter offrom twenty-five to forty pounds. Such a box will be found of greatconvenience and very economical in ice. The milk-can not being in directcontact with the ice, the milk is thus kept at a desirable temperature.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-- 1. A portable refrigerator comprising aninclosure provided with two independent compartments having a mutualvertical partition a, a door in the top of each compartment and a handlebetween said doors to carry said re frigerator, one of said compartmentshaving three superposed chambers, the water-chamber being in the bottom,the top chamber having for a floor an inclined removable ice-traynotched in its lower end and an apron 17 pendent therefrom, and ahorizontal shelf 11 thereunder having one edge notched for the passageof the apron 17 substantially as described.

2. A refrigerator comprising a metal-lined inclosure provided with twoindependent compartments having a mutual vertical parpassage of thependent apron 17 substantially 1o tition a provided with perforations01, one of as described. said compartments having three superposed Intestimony whereof I aflix my signature chambers, the middlechagberhaving a door in presence of two witnesses. 5 in one side, andthe top 0 amber having for r a floor a removable inclined ice-traynotched WILMER BOWEN in its lower end, and an apron 17 pendentWitnesses: therefrom, the horizontal shelf 11 of the mid- HELEN E.PARKER, dle chamber having one edge notched for the WELLINGTON STOTT

